Murray's time of 15:06, is the fastest 5k run by a Delaware high schooler, eclipsing his own record of 15:08, when he won the Joe O'Neill Invitational earlier this season. True to form, Murray blistered the first mile, punishing much of the competition, only to be passed in the last 1k, by Brodey Hasty from Brentwood (Tennessee). He will compete this Saturday, Dec. 5th, for a national championship in Portland.

Cross Country States 2015 website.mp4

The meet started with DII when Tatnall Freshman, Keelin Hays, won the race (17:57.94), by more than a minute, pacing the Hornets to a 34 - 75 victory over runner-up St. Andrew's. All seven of Tatnall's racers placed in the top 20 - Caroline Foley, 6th/19:35; Lauren Anshen, 7th/19:38; Eirinn Sikes, 8th/19:44; Elaina Teklits, 12th/20:01; Jill Reinhardt, 13th/20:14; and Savannah Pankow, 17th/20:35.

St. Andrew's second place team finish was bolstered by a 2-3 punch from Louisa Belk (2013 MVP), running 19:12, and Caitlin Cobb, who crossed the line in 19:13.

The team from DMA finished their season in 3rd, 3 points out of second, with three in the top 15 - Kelsi Lussier, 10th/19:47; Kylie Jones, 14th/20:19; and Nicole Harris, 15th/20:26.

Also medaling in DII were Analise Kaminsky, the senior from St. Mark's, finishing 4th/19:15; eighth grader Maya Bordrick (Conrad) was 5th/19:28; Lillian Peterson (Newark Charter), 9th/19:45; and the junior from Brandywine, Alexa Crowell took 11th/19:55.

Lydia Olivere outlasted Newark's Rachel Beston to win the DI title in 17:57.66, the fastest time of the day, over Beston's 18:00. Beston kept in close contact the entire race and even took the lead with about 80m to go, but Olivere came back for the win.

Charter's Kevin Murray continued his dominance setting his 4th course record in a month, finishing in 15:20, some 11 seconds better than the previous record set by Tatnall alumnus Stephen Garrett in 2013! Murray is arguably Delaware's best cross country runner in recent history, and perhaps of all time, (Salesianum's Eric Eckstrand held numerous course records in the late '90's).

The team score does not reveal the tight contest between Charter and Salesianum. An unfortunate disqualification on the Sals team altered their score by 58 points - George Steinhoff was Sallie's 3rd finisher, placing 6th, before being taken down by officials for impeding at the finish line. However, his legal finish would not have propelled the Sals on top - the Force would have still be victorious by just an 8 point margin! It appears the Charter boys exacted their revenge on the Sals after losing a 6th man, tie-break in 2014.

Murray led from the start as he has all season shaving 12 seconds off the course record set by Pat Hally (Salesianum) in 2013.

Andrew Hally, a senior from Sallies,was the runner-up in 15:59.

Tatnall placed five in the top 15 (Joey Garrett, 4th/16:14; Brendan Balthis, 8th/16:29; Michael Flanagan, 9th/16:43; Ryan Pala, 11th/16:49; and Brad Keen, 15th/16:52) to win the team title by seven points over Charter, whose win from Murray and high placing from Coby Collins (5th/16:25) and Chris Avila (7th/16:28) pushed the Force comfortably ahead of 3rd place Sallies, behind strong finishes from Hally, John Walker (3rd/16:10) and George Steinhoff (10th/16:46).

Hudson Pepper, the sophomore from Tower Hill, ran a tough race to get 6th overall in 16:27.

Unlike the boys race, the girls race changed leads a few times throughout and came down to the wire. Padua's Lydia Olivere, took the race out in the first loop, ahead of Keelin Hays and Rachel Beston (Newark). Hays gained the lead going into the second loop but could not shake Olivere.Olivere fought back to take over the lead with about 600m to go. Coming up the final incline to the tape, the two girls battled, leaving Beston and the rest of the pack. In the end it was Hays that came up with the win in the final few strides, narrowly edging Olivere by just one second.

Tatnall placed three behind Hays in the top fifteen (Lauren Anshen, 4th/19:18; Caroline Foley, 8th/19:28, and Eirinn Sikes, 15th/19:44) to easily win the team title 46-103 over second place, Padua.

The team from St. Andrew's, behind two in the top nine - Caitlin Cobb, 7th/19:28, and Louisa Belk, 9th/19:34 - narrowly edged the girls from DMA, 121-122.

Joe O'Neill 2015

Charter's Kevin Murray Breaks Course Record at Bellevue!

Padua's Lydia Olivere Crowned the Girls Champion!

The Tatnall School Sweeps Team Titles!

Highlights:

Kevin Murray went wire-to-wire to win in 15:08.83, a new course record, besting Tatnall's Jack Hagood's 15:19, run in the same meet in 2013. Murray's time was the fastest recorded for a Delaware runner, narrowly edging former teammate, Kieran Tuntivate, who ran 15:08.9 at the NXN Southeast Regional Meet in 2014. Murray was 40 seconds ahead of second place Andrew Hally, from Salesianum, running 15:48. John Walker, of Salesianum placed 3rd in 15:52.

The boys from Tatnall put three in the top 8 (Joey Garrett, 4th/16:01; Michael Flanagan, 7th/16:15; and Brendan Balthis, 8th/16:18), to nail the team title in a slim margin over Salesianum, 70 - 73.

Rounding out the top 10 were a pair from third place Charter, Chris Avila, 5th/16:10 and Coby Collins, 10th/16:26; Hudson Pepper (Tower Hill), 6th/16:13; and Sussex Tech's Ben Bamforth, 9th/16:24.

Lydia Olivere (17:30) dominated the field once again to win the girls race in 17:30, #4 All Time just one position behind her sister, Lindsey, who ran 17:23 in 2010.

Narrowing the gap was Newark's Rachel Beston, running Delaware's #8 All Time performance in 17:53.

Tatnall crushed in the team scoring placing all five scorers in the top 11 to beat runner-up Padua 35 - 81! Freshmen Keelin Hays (3rd/18:25), Olivia Hardin (6th/18:54), Lauren Anshen (7th/18:54), Eirinn Sikes (8th/19:02) made their mark in their first big state competition while Junior, Caroline Foley gutted an 11th place finish in 19:22, coming off a recent injury.

Olivere's race in the revered Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, NYC was one for the record books. Beside being the #1 All Time for a Delaware girl at the Park, she earned the sophomore class record at the Park. She also gained a place on the "Van Cortlandt Park All Time List" coming in at #10, sharing the company of some of the most accomplished runners from the last three decades.

Tatnall senior, Joey Garrett, ran the third fastest Delaware boys' time of the day in 13:11 Tatnall, Salesianum, and Charter boys all toed-the-line in the championship race. The Hornets placed the highest, in 18th, followed by the Sals, 21st, and the Force, 25th.

AI duPont's Blake Evans was the individual champion covering the course in 17:12. Evans and teammates Erick Jones (3rd/17:48), Matt McLean (7th/18:00), Jon Bacigalupi (18th/18:26), and Rob McLean (24th/18:36) scored just 53 points in the field of 18 schools for the win.

Sussex Tech's Ben Bamforth took second place to lead the Ravens to third in the team scoring. Their score of 106 equalled Charter's but the Force relied on their sixth runner, Joel Turk, to break the tie, declaring them second.

Girls' Highlights:

Katie Macturk crosses the line at White Clay Creek.

Photo courtesy of Jill McDermott.

Concord senior, Katie Macturk, took the girls individual crown running 19:44, nine seconds ahead of runner-up Roxanne Ramirez (19:53), of Sussex Tech. Haleigh Killen, a junior from Concord was third in 20:28 for the third place Raiders.

Pair from Sussex Tech are Runners-Up at Big Invitational on Maryland's Eastern Shore.

Highlights:

Ben Bamforth (16:30) and Roxanne Ramirez (19:07) paced the Ravens to place 2nd and 4th in the team scores.

Delaware girls in the top ten after Ramirez were Naomi Bowser (6th/20:39) of Smyrna, Nicolette Beers (9th/21:10) of Caesar Rodney, and Sarah Dziak (10th/21:17) of Cape Henlopen. Caesar Rodney girls took 2nd in the team scoring.

Olivere appeared comfortable down the stretch as she separated from the pack with about 250 meters to go. The sophomore covered the course in 17:49, smashing the 18 minute barrier for the first time in her career to win the Brown Division.

Andrew Hally Wins the Championship Race in 16:51, the Fastest Time of the Day!

The inclement weather did not dampen competition at the Creek.

Large School & Champs Divisions were raced together and scored separately.

Hally's win returned the individual crown to Broom Street after a one-year hiatus - the last Salesian to win the championship was his brother, Patrick, in 2013.

Salesianum freshmen, Michael Keehan (18:01) and Sean Banko (18:14) took one-two in the Freshmen Race. However Connor Nisbet, of Wilmington Friends, ran the fastest freshman class time of the day in 17:49 to place 3rd in the Small Varsity Race.

Kelsi Lussier, a freshman from DMA, won the Small School Varsity Division in 21:04 and was the fastest Delaware girl at the meet. Teammates Alena Foley (21:46/3rd), Kylie Jones (21:51/4th), Nicole Harris (21:55/5th), and Gina Miller (22:15/8th) dominated the division to win 21-52 over runner-up Georgetown Day School.

AI duPont boys packed five guys within 18 seconds to take the runner-up spot in the Varsity C Division. Led by David Bacigalupi, running 17:04 to place 9th, teammates Blake Evans (11th/17:06), Erick Jones (13th/17:09), Jonathan Bacigalupi (19th/17:18), and Matt McLean (21st/17:22) were close on his heels.

Padraig Hahn (DMA) placed 9th in the Varsity D Division - 17:22.

Girls' Highlights:

Analise Kaminski (St. Mark's) led all Delaware runners, covering the course in 19:40 to place 5th in the Varsity D Division.

Roxanne Ramirez also took a 5th place finish (Varsity B) with a time of 19:41.

The girls from Tatnall, led by a pair of freshmen (Keelin Hays/4th and Olivia Hardin/6th) edged Red Bank Catholic 60-61 to finish second behind Unionville (30). Anna Juul, of Unionville was the overall winner in 19:16.

Tatnall boys put 3 in the top 10 (Joey Garrett/3rd, Michael Flanagan/4th, and Brendan Balthis/8th); but it was not enough to best the depth of West Chester Henderson, placing 5 in the top 9. The race was won by Kent Hall, of Unionville, in 16:27.

ResultsNOTE - Must "View Official Results" to get Delaware participant results.

White Clay Meet

Newark's Rachel Beston Runs 18:49 to Dominate the Field in the Senior Race - Moving up to #7 All Time!

Ursuline Girls Post Strong Early Season Times, Earning 2nd Place

Other Highlights:

Delaware runners took both of the freshman titles. Connor Nisbet, of Wilmington Friends, crossed the line in 17:59 to take the boys' race. Newark freshman, Naomi Dawkins, covered the course in just 20:28 to win the girls' race.

Newark's Daniel Mwaniki posted the fastest Delaware time of the day to place 6th in the Senior race - 17:32.